Full disclosure here: If you Google “Jimmy Rollins Matthew Osborne Trentonian,” you will find a lot of columns from the last few years where one of those people mentioned criticizes the other person for being a poor leader, a selfish player and a laughable Hall of Fame candidate.

I have softened in my criticism of Rollins in recent years, and I’ve even been spouting the “He compares very favorably to Barry Larkin” line to anyone who will listen.

But one thing is for sure, despite our rocky road through the years: I’ll be damned if I’m going to let Pete Rose troll Rollins for being selfish.

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After hearing the idiotic comments of the “Hit King”, I am forced to come to J-Roll’s defense. Who hung around as a player-manager until he was halfway through his 40s so he could pass Ty Cobb? Right, that was you, Pete.

Also, what is the downside to Rollins getting hits? If you’re on a bad basketball team and you chuck up shots to break scoring marks, that’s one thing. But baseball players come to the plate alone every single time up, and there is nothing about trying to pile up offensive numbers that can hurt the team.

(Truthfully, can anything make the Phillies worse at this point anyway?)

Point is, Rose should shut up and mind his own business, like writing books full of half-truths and pitching failed reality shows.

The Phillies are going nowhere fast, and everyone on the roster is probably being scouted as I write this.

But Rollins can’t be traded without his permission, and he said last season he wouldn’t approve a trade because “there are only 30 guys” who are their franchise’s all-time leading hitters, making it an exclusive club in the history of the game.

Here’s 11 observations on that club that No. 11 will soon be a member of:

1. Only three members of the club have hit 500 homers. That number will drop to two (Hank Aaron and Willie Mays) when Rollins displaces Mike Schmidt.

2. Of the 29 other franchise hit leaders, 17 are in the Hall of Fame and one of them is Rose, who would be if he was not a fiend. Two others are Hall locks (Derek Jeter and Ichiro) and Todd Helton has a solid shot at Cooperstown. Michael Young is a longshot and it’s too early to tell on David Wright, who only needed 1,419 hits to become the Mets’ all-time leader.

3. Of the remaining seven players, Rollins has more hits than all of them by plenty, except for Angels all-time leader Garret Anderson (2,368), whom he could pass next year if he stays with the Phillies.

4. Fourteen of the franchise hit leaders have 3,000 or more hits, led by Cobb, who had 3,900 hits for the Tigers, setting the mark for most with one team. Roberto Clemente had exactly 3,000 hits for the Pirates.

5. Tony Gwynn, whose son is Rollins’s current teammate, is the Padres’ all-time hit leader with 3,141.

6. Only Wright, Ichiro, Jeter and Carl Crawford (Rays) are active players on the list.

7. Young (Rangers) and Luis Castillo (Miami’s all-time hit leader) have been Rollins’s teammates, though Castillo was only so in spring training before being cut. Castillo has only 1,273 hits with the Marlins, the lowest total for any of the 30.

9. Sam Rice of the Washington Senators (Minnesota Twins version) is the only other hit leader to never play for the current incarnation of the franchise.

10. Rose, Cobb, Rollins and Castillo have all had hitting streaks longer than 35 games. Sadly, Rollins is batting .209 since a three-hit game May 10.

11. Through Thursday, Rollins had played in 2,007 games. Also, he was MVP in 2007.

No matter what you think of Rollins and his career, it’s definitely a historic moment for the Phillies. J-Roll will be properly feted upon reaching this milestone, and one can only hope he will stick around a little longer to pile up the number some more.

But if he bolts right afterward, maybe I’ll find myself apologizing to Rose, too.

Matthew Osborne is the editor of The Trentonian. He can be reached at 609-349-7442 or mosborne@trentonian.com. Follow him on Twitter @trentonianozzy.